Ranger's owner donates Alamo memoir to UT-Austin
By Barry Shlachter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
©1998, Fort Worth Star Telegram.Rafael Palmeiro. Brett Hull. Davy Crockett?
Importing heroes to Texas has become second nature for Tom Hicks, owner of baseball's Texas Rangers and hockey's Dallas Stars.
Now Hicks is making news with some big-time bidding that has nothing to do with negotiations with millionaire professional athletes.
Last night, Hicks and partner Charles Tate gave their alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, the controversial firsthand account of the Kentucky frontiersman's capture and summary execution after the Battle of the Alamo.
They paid $350,000 at a November auction -- after unwittingly topping UT's own best offer of $300,000.
The memoir by the Mexican officer, Lt. Col. Jose Enrique de la Pena, describes the capture and summary execution of Davy Crockett after the 1836 battle, which runs counter to the myth that has grown around the coonskin-capped frontiersman.
"It's so rich a historical resource," said Don Carleton, director of UT's Center of American History, who had bid $300,000 for the document, only to be beaten by a $350,000 counter offer made by a New York agent, who wouldn't identify her clients at the time.
"It's one of the best eyewitness accounts of the Texas Revolution," Carleton said.
Tate is president of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, a private investment firm. Hicks, a member of the UT System Board of Regents, is chairman and chief executive officer.
Hicks' recent deals as a sports franchise owner have included this month's $45 million contract with Palmeiro, a power-hitting first baseman, and a $17 million deal with Hull, the 15th leading scorer in National Hockey League history.
"I am real proud to be part of this," Hicks said after yesterday's announcement.
Although the Crockett mention is brief, it has drawn much attention to the papers, which diehard Crockett fans insist are forged.
While some amateur historians have described the de la Pena papers as an elaborate hoax, most mainstream scholars of the period say they believe the memoir is authentic. Some add, however, that a full run of tests would make them feel more confident.
Carleton said tests on the paper arranged last summer by Butterfield & Butterfield, the auction house, convinced him that they're real.
"Tests already have been done to our satisfaction -- a slam dunk," he said, ruling out further examination. "We do not believe it's a forgery."
The memoir indicates that Crockett and a handful of other Alamo defenders were captured and executed, which is contrary to the image of Crockett dying on the walls, at the end wielding his long rifle, Betsy, like a club.
"The fact of the matter is he was a hero, however he died," Hicks said.
Neither UT nor Hicks and Tate had any idea each was aggressively pursuing the document for the same end, to add it to the Eugene C. Baker Texas History Collection at UT's Sid Richardson Hall. Carleton said a public announcement of UT's participation might have affected bidding.
Bidding lasted an intense four minutes.
"The bid came right back at me until $300,000, then I bid 350,000," Wendy Evans Hoff, the agent working on behalf of Hicks and Tate, said at the time. "I wanted to make it very clear to the room that I wanted to buy this lot, that I would be the successful bidder. And it worked. I sent that message."
Had the partners informed UT in advance of their intentions they might have saved themselves $50,000.
"Irony, irony," Carleton said. "Well, these things happen."
This report includes material from The Associated Press.
Barry Shlachter, (817) 390-7718
Updated: Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1998 at 02:31 CST
©1998, Fort Worth Star Telegram.